DESTRUCTION BAY │ BUSINESS Y

Effective Business is about Reciprocal Trust and Respect

KEY CONCEPTS: community needs differ from city, informal management, trust, work ethic

This small business identified a number of employees that have disabilities, including issues arising from a prosthetic leg and operating heavy machinery to managing diabetes effectively on the job.  

Accommodating disabilities is an everyday part of being an effective employer in rural Yukon. But accommodating employees needs is not specifically identified as a ‘disability employment’ issue. This employer suggested that they expect their employees to simply get on with getting the job done, and that they, as employers, do what is necessary to ensure their employees are able to do so. For example, the employee with one prosthetic leg drives truck, handles heavy machinery, does mechanical work on cars and machinery, and is fully capable of doing all aspects of the job without any identifiable limitations. The employer noted the only major accommodation they needed to make in this case is to provide suitable time off from work when the employee needs to have his prosthetic checked, maintained, or replaced.  

Flexibility and responsiveness to employees needs were the key themes emerging from our conversation.  Effective business in small communities is about relationships and reciprocal trust and respect between employers and employees – neither formalised or monitored, but rather, structured as a socially responsible relationship.

Many of the small businesses in rural Yukon were established one or even two generations ago, causing some business owners/employers feel as though young people who come to work for them might not share the same beliefs about business, work ethic, responsibility and enterprise. This employer indicated that there is a divide between the city/Whitehorse new-generation way of thinking about business and work-life and the expectations of employers in rural Yukon.

There is an impression that the city/Whitehorse doesn’t always have the best interests of the communities in mind, which makes it difficult to understand how the government and agencies might support small business on issues such as disability employment.

When asked what they might like to see in a Yukon Disability Employment Strategy, this employer indicated that government investment in small business was good for the whole community, and business needed less regulation and more direct support as indicated by communities. ‘Listening to the communities’ was the big message in this meeting: listening to the employers who, without overcomplicating the issues, work with all members of the community. Further suggestions included providing on-site education and training, avoiding the problem of having employees away in Whitehorse for extended periods of time.

Decisions about communities should not be made without the communities at the table – echoing the moniker of another jurisdiction’s mantra, no decision about me without me. 

DESTRUCTION BAY │ BUSINESS X

Inclusion and Respect for Community as Pragmatic Good Business

KEY CONCEPTS: sustainability, ad-hoc, flexible, community relationships, pragmatic and thoughtful management. 

The owner/operator of a hotel, food, and gas station business that was established in the late 60’s in rural Yukon identified that in order to sustain the business over the long term, employers have no choice but to accommodate employees needs given an identified disability or otherwise.

Good business in the rural Yukon is based on the principles of inclusion and respect as a pragmatic response to reducing staff turnover and securing quality employees.

What qualifies as a disability is not clear to employers. When we first started talking about disability and employment issues, this employers, like most others, initially suggested that they didn’t have any employees with disabilities on staff. Once the we discussed the broader definition of disability, it was revealed that a number of staff did indeed have a disability, but that the these disabilities were accommodated through a natural process of responding to employees needs as they arise –  adapting the work and scheduling during individual shifts and over the longer term.

This employer identified concerns that employers might have in hiring people with disabilities. Initial concerns about the idea of hiring people with disabilities centred on health and safety issues – working in kitchens and around dangerous machinery. The second significant issue centred on skills and ability to work unsupervised with customers making financial transactions effectively and efficiently. Customer service is a key feature of this particular business, placing significant demands on employers to ensure repeat business is maintained through quality service.

This employer talked about the interconnectedness of the business with community life – and how business and community are deeply interconnected in rural Yukon. Much of what goes on in terms of effective business practice is fluid and informal – occurring through daily conversations with members of the community/clients/employees. Responding to individual employee needs is handled in much the same way – in an ad hoc, do as needs doing manner of conducting business. This could be described as ad hoc approach to responding to needs, but without any negative connotation in the process of meeting needs as they arise and not being overly rigid in line management practices.

When discussing the potential benefits of introducing a Yukon Disability Employment Strategy that encapsulated and shared best practice as guidance for business across the whole of Yukon, this employer expressed some worry that some employers might take advantage a model that incentivised employing people with disabilities – suggesting that this might lead to employment that is less about socially responsible and pragmatic business, but more about doing what appears to be the right thing given a guarantee of remuneration for their efforts to be inclusive and responsive to employee needs.

When the discussion turned to developing a centralized support network that might include resources to provide otherwise unavailable accommodations (be it a modification to a workspace or retraining), this employer suggested that help with start-up costs for accommodating an individual would be very helpful.